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News Briefs 20-09-2007

By Gregon

I’ve scraped myself off the floor to bring you today’s daily news. I recommend wearing a surgical mask, just in case.

  • Has the supposedly defunct Stargate remote viewing program been relocated to the NSA?
  • Scientists doubt meteorite strike claim. Except this one. Can we rule out earthquake lights as a possible explanation?
  • Should a 15 ton meteorite be auctioned, or should it be given to an indigenous group who claim it is sacred to them?
  • NASA Administrator says China will probably get to the Moon before the U.S. (if we ignore that little thing that happened in 1969 of course). Nice tactic to ramp up funds for NASA?
  • Giant creature crawls across the Sun. At least, that’s what the scientists say…I’m waiting for the ‘woo-woos’ to offer some common sense. Another fund-raising drive? Movie here.
  • The latest issue of Sci-Am looks into the future of space exploration, and they have a number of articles available freely which you might like to check out.
  • Indian girl claims to be reincarnation of space shuttle tragedy victim.
  • What’s in a Rose: Ethnobotany and the search for useful plants (Sci-Am podcast).
  • Vicar calls for Harry Potter debate. I don’t think Voldemort will show.
  • Tensions increase between Egypt and Germany over Nefertiti loan refusal. Please note: the photo on that page is *not* Nefertiti. Just in case you were confused, with the whole legendary beauty thing and all…
  • Oliver Sacks has an interesting piece in The New Yorker: “The Abyss: Music and Amnesia“.
  • The mysteries of a split brain.
  • Imagine a world without animal testing…
  • Most science studies tainted by sloppy analysis.
  • Black mystery cats terrorise Australia. I’m afraid to step outside my door.
  • Stranded whale coaxed back to safety by traditional Haida song.
  • China’s cyber attacks signal the new battlefield is online. Although you really can’t beat bodycounts and destroyed buildings when it comes to wars.
  • Two of our supposed galactic companions are actually just passers-by.
  • Did the Big Bang spawn trillions of black holes?
  • Languages racing to extinction in five global ‘hotspots’. I murder the English language every day, but it just keeps coming back stronger.
  • Homeopaths would be fine, if they would just shut up about the serious stuff like AIDS, malaria and MMR.

Quote of the Day:

It’s always funny until, someone gets hurt…and then it’s just hilarious.

Faith No More (‘Ricochet’)

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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11 Comments

  1. Geyser explosion?
    The scientists claiming it was a geyser or hypothermal activity, and not a meteorite, do realise many people reported a bright object fall from the sky? But what do people who personally witnessed the event know, a scientist sitting in his cooshy office 10’000 miles away knows better.

    The whale story is inspiring, but I hope the whale didn’t swim away because the Haida singing was off-key. 😉

  2. Flawed Science
    “miscalculation, poor study design or self-serving data analysis”

    Somebody really needs to inform Al Gore. Whatever is left of his career (no pun intended) and his credibility hang in the balance. In fact, I could point out A LOT OF PEOPLE who could benefit from taking a deep breath and an even deeper look at some of the things they’ve come to accept as truth and fact based on the “science”.

      1. WSJ article about bad science
        I have to say, the WSJ article about science is really crappy journalism.

        One point, the article is about a study of medical science. Yet the conclusions by the author seem to be about all science. That’s a little bit of a jump.

        Another point, the numbers about the Journal “Science”. 12,000 or so papers are submitted per year, And 16 of the published ones were corrected or retracted. But how many papers were not published? Is ROBERT LEE HOTZ seriously saying that the Science journal publishes more than 230 articles every week? He should pick up a copy.

        And then, this gem:
        “Earlier this year, informatics expert Murat Cokol and his colleagues at Columbia University sorted through 9.4 million research papers at the U.S. National Library of Medicine published from 1950 through 2004 in 4,000 journals.”

        It is now September, and these people have done a computerized sort of the 9.4 million articles since January 1. There is no way that they have read these articles, nevermind understood them.

        Yes, medical science has serious weaknesses. A lot of it is guesswork in my opinion. Not an easy field to work in.

        But Hotz then makes conclusions about all sciences, from information taken only from medical science.

        My conclusion? Hotz is either really stupid, or he has a real anti-science attitude.

        Or maybe he is just an average journalist.

        So there 🙂

        —-
        The cost of living has not affected its popularity.

        1. So…
          You are questioning the veracity of his study!? I guess that helps him make his case.

          LOL

          BTW, defending bad science with the arugument of “yes, medical research is shoddy but {insert favorite field of research here} is solid” doesn’t really add any credibility to your point. Know what I mean?

          1. critics
            What I am saying is that Hotz is a lousy journalist, not that his article is an example of bad science. Or perhaps the majority of journalists is that bad.

            I admit to having a low opinion of journalists.

            The journalists commenting about diplomacy don’t know diplomacy. Diplomats do.

            The journalists commenting about music don’t understand music. Musicians do.

            Why would we think it is any different with journalists commenting about science?

            Journalists write about something they are interested in, because they can’t hack the real thing. That is why the are professional critics.

            —-
            The cost of living has not affected its popularity.

          2. there are exceptions of course
            I happen to have in a very high regard the work of science journalists Alan Boyle and his blog
            Cosmic Log

            After all, thanks to him is why I arrived here 😉

            —–

            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

  3. Outrageous
    The tone of utter contempt in the Guardian article about homeopathy would never be tolerated if the piece was about a “mainstream” area of science or medicine, such as physics, which comes up with some laughable predictions of its own. That such snark is only acceptable when talking about frontier science or medicine is an outrage.

    1. Coincidence?
      In the Guardian page with the article, did you notice there’s also an advertising with Mr Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene?

      I just found it curious that’s all 😉

      I’m a little ambiguous about homeopathy myself. When I was very little I had asthma. Supposedly it was real bad, and my mother treated me with homeopathy. I’m sure Mr. Dawkins would find my mother’s conduct almost criminal…

      But the fact is that I’m 33 now and I don’t have any asthma. I don’t even remember how it felt to have it.

      Naturally my mother continued to take my with this homeopathic doctor to treat other things (you know the flu, stomach, things like that) and it went fine. But I admit that as I grew older I began to see more and more alopathic doctors.

      That’s why my take on homeopathy is ambiguous.

      —–
      It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
      It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

      Red Pill Junkie

    2. I Agree. Sort of.
      Intellectual and scientific skepticism is an integral part of good research and it’s something that is in short supply in most areas of “mainstream” research. But “frontier” science is an area where it should be found in abundance.

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